Bridging the Gaps
by StormDracona
Summary: He'd just wanted to get to thier new home. But Primus had other plans, and while he didn't understand the natives of this planet. He was learning why they were so precious first hand.
1. Chapter 1

_So my TF muse has apparently came skidding back into the picture for the time being so I figured I'd share the plot bunny that bit me till I bled. This takes place before DOTM or after. Probably after._

_"We are here. We are waiting."_

Those words were like a spell breaking. Optimus Prime lived; the message was slightly garbled due to sheer distance, but it made no difference as the coordinates to the small blue planet in the milky way were clearly legible.

Looking around what was left of one of thier sister colonies, an old now depulated moon. A gust of exhast from his systems left him in a sigh as he really let himself look for the first time since this war even started. Once proud buildings were ridden with laser fire damage and unstructurally sound. The gleaming surfaces dulled and pitted from sheer abuse and neglect, the faceted crystals used to refract the light for visability and beauty from one of the near by stars shattered.

It was just him and a few others, each one run down and damaged in some form from lack of a medic and constant fighting. They all met optics each varying levels of hope as they prepared for stasis transport and planet jetison.

They had to go 'home.'

~~  
>His internal clock kept track of the time spent in protoform stasis, and had a timer for when he was close enough to awake for planet fall. Shooting an encrypted message of his arrival to the coordinates he'd recieved his message from, he finally activated his periphreal visual on his pod. As he did so the first thing he did was see he was inside...<p>

An astroid belt? Systems blared a warning right as one struck his external shell, his navigation went haywire as he spun out of control, over shooting his orbital aim and passing the 4th planet, then outright passing his window to earth. Thrusters engaged to right his pod and he used the 2nd planets orbit to slingshot into the right direction while he tried to regain some footing of control. If he transformed now and disengaged his protoform pod there would be no way he'd survive planetfall.

Right as he felt somewhat at ease he was back on track his visuals and systems whited out from a solar flare right as he broke into Earths orbit.

He was seeing error codes galore on his whited out screen as he carreened across the horizon, sunset streaked with a vapor trail and smoke as he breached orbit. The extreme heat blazed the shell red as he managed to not scrape the top of Mount Baldy as his visuals finally started to return in slow pixels.

The organic planets terra reflected the blood orange of the sun as he smashed into the desert soil, impact dragging and shaking the earth around him as he slid to a stop. It took him about an hour before he managed to force himself to his protoform, staggering amoung rocks and such almost as big as him as he headed towards light and sound. Darkness had long since swept the higher elevation he was at, the sun having been blocked from view by the mountains at his back.

His armor was dented and singed more so then when he'd left the colony. But he was alive and on the planet as he carefully got close to a yard where all sorts of vehicles were parked, scanning one suitable for his frame. Mimicking the damage wasn't as hard as the initial transform, even the license plate matched. Falling into a light stasis come sunrise he was surprised when a man pulled up in a flatbed truck an checked in his cab. Keys and papers in the passenger seat just like the truck 3 spaces further from him that he'd scanned.

He was unsure what to do as the..._human_ if he recalled right chattered some things to itself as it checked the numbers he'd mimicked and the papers on the seat before messing with his gearshift and brake. Putting the key in the ignition after hooking something to his front. Slowly he was dragged up onto the flatbed, as the sun continued to crest higher into the morning sky. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful it was as emergancy stasis reclaimed him.

The day progressed almost agonizingly slow as systems used the solar energy hitting his frame to slowly doing the self repair his body could manage. Exhasted he didn't even bother trying to get himself fully aware, just barely able to have any form of vision he wasn't in any hurry as he was rolled off and parked in a nice sunny spot. He could feel the wind blowing on him, and a careful scan that he could manage showed no immediate danger.

So he recharged for the next several hours.

The TV glowed errily in the open living room, the news casters voice echoing into the open kitchen as a woman put away the last of her groceries in the fridge and stood up.

"We had a 3.4 earthquake near the fault line yesterday evening, just west of the northbound 15 freeway before Palmdale. So far no physical damage to the surrounding cities,-" Flicking the TV off as she walked through the living room, April shook her head.

"Ugh I swear we're getting closer to the end of the world each year." Glancing up at the clock she huffed a sigh running a hand tiredly through her hair.

"Well guess might as well call it a night."  
>~~<p>

_So the first chapter/prologues always the slow part. I'll have more up soon!_


	2. Chapter 2

A deep sigh left her as she looked at the damaged sign, literally hanging off a single rusted bolt it proudly boasted of the small salvage yard in question. Grudgingly they did have a good rating, and rather clean reputation-but they could have at least put some effort into looking the part. The chain link was in fairly good condition in comparison, and despite looking worse for wear the chainlink drive gate slid open fairly easy as it was electronically opened for her.

Old worn ariat boots quietly crunched in the sand and dirt mix of the common ground of Californias high desert as she made her way in. Vehicles from repo, some accidents and some actually just abadoned on the side of the road to suffer the 'tender' mercies of the desert-she shook her head. She was hoping to find a decent truck that wasn't quite on its last legs or at least not unsavable after her accident last month with her last one. The Cajon pass was a force to be reconed with in bad weather, and sadly she suffered for someone underestimating that fact. She'd been lucky to not get shoved over the guardrail.

Tugging her denim shirt tighter to her as the wind blew a strong gust, April headed towards the clean building of the office her long braid swaying behind her as she knocked before stepping in.

"Hello! How can I help you?"

"I spoke to Mark yesterday and you guys said you had a few trucks I could come take a look at...?"

"OH! Yes yes come I've got the keys and info on them right here."

Following him out the first truck was entirely to small for what she needed it for, she had a mini truck-it couldn't pull a horse trailer. The next wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have bad memories with the Titan pickups. This one had obviously been a repo, the dark gunmetal grey boasted of once being a prized possession, the finish and chrome were dusty from the grit and sand blowing on it but it obviously gleamed nicely once clean. It was obviously the most expensive they seemed to have and consideribly higher then what she could afford or even attempt to make payments on. It was barely a year old.

The final truck was an old ford, a late 70's if not 80's model and apparently ran. Though upon start up it choked for a few moments, but idled with an irritated grumble. The exhast puffed out dark on a rev and she cringed. No way would this pass smog. The file confirmed it was sold due to several failed attempts, and even she could tell the cost to fix it would be more then what this truck was worth. But it seemed to be her best bet as she hopped out, a dark gleam caught her eye an she turned her head absently then did a double take. Sitting off to the side was a black rather beat up looking Dodge Ram.

"What about that one?" The dealer did a double take as well as his brow furrowed.

"I don't remember that one...Must have gotten brought in yesterday after I left." As she got closer she felt a smile worm its way onto her face, the black paint was flawless where there wasn't damage. It looked like this guy took a nose dive into a ditch or something as she walked around it. The 'face' gave way to the year, and she breathed a surprsed look at the newer truck. But her hopes sank with the revelation as well, it was too new. Like the Titan there'd be no way she could afford it.

"Well the doors aren't locked and the keys are in the ignition, want to try and start this bad boy while I try to find its paperwork?" April shrugged as she climbed up into the cab. The truck had been lifted about 6 inches or so it seemed, as she settled onto the almost pristene interior she smoothed her hands on the leather bound wheel. Letting her eyes look over the dash and noticing it was a stick shift before she gave the key a try with the clutch.

It started on the first try without much complaint, though it sounded like a belt needed replacing by the high whine she could hear. She relaxed to the sound of a the strong diesel before nearly jumping out of her skin when Mark poked his head in the open door to peer up at her.

When he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck but gave her a cheerful smile.

"...Make me an offer and give me a number, an I'll quick write up some paperwork. "

This seemed like such a bad idea, but this was her *_dream*_ truck. That she swore she'd never be able to afford. A Dodge Ram, practically fallen into her lap it seemed. It had the pinkslip an title strangely enough.

"Whats the deal on this truck then?"

"It was sold to us for trade of parts, Rick my brother went and picked it up earlier this morning. So if ya want the beast an we can make a deal. Its yours."

~~~

There must be some good karma coming back to her as she shifted gears, comfortable in the power rumbling around her as she rolled the big beast into her gravel drive.

"Well big guy. I'm amazed, trading in my wreck an what I had to pay cash bought you." She really had issues that she talked to her cars. Well in this case truck, but it kept her from being lonely.

She cried when she realized her original pickup had been ruined-and she'd _just_ paid it off. But that was in the past and it now sat in the salvage yard at best used for parts. As she parked in the open garage and turned the growling engine off she hopped out and did a walk around, looking closely at all the damage.

"Well...seems to be all mostly costmetic...I should be able to hammer all that out eventually..." Cocking her hip she glanced over the dirty finish.

"First thing tommorow though is you're getting a bath." With that she keyed the remote close the door, before heading inside the house.

Sluggishly he woke up just as the house door closed and he checked his surroundings, noting he was in an insulated garage.

**"...the frag?"** Soft cybertronian escaped him as he looked around his new dwelling wondering what had transpired while he'd been in recharge. The lack of sun on his armor was what had originally gotten him up, and he really wished he was outside. But something told him to stay put for the moment as he heard faint noises from something attached to the dwelling he was in.

"Ratchet any sign of the energon signal?"

"Negative, whomever it was either doesn't want to be found or..." The CMO didn't want to admit the chances of a bad planet entry. Despite the decepticons defeat and thier leader out of commision, sadly there were still fanatics whom may not have gotten that message yet. It would be many years before they were relaxed about planetfalls, this one was worriesome as there had been no ping to thier systems to herald the newcomers entry.

"Hopefully, they function and that primus brought us one of our brothers." the melancholy note in the noble voice made Ratchet look up at Optimus, who was not looking at the screen with an image of the crash site-but out the hanger door towards the sky with almost a longing look.

"We can only hope he'd be so kind." He finally muttered in response, typing a few commands in.

"I'm going to widen the search sweep, it'd be less definate if we find a signal but it'd give us a direction to look." Optimus nodded as he rested his hand on his long time friends shoulder as he spoke.

"Let me know if you find anything."

Nodding Ratchet glanced at him. "Of course." With the silent promise in the air, the leader turned with a grace unimagined for one so large as he walked out of the hanger that was thier home and transformed, deisel engine rumbling with a throaty growl as he headed out. A loud sigh gusted out of Ratchets vents and he glanced towards the cieling.

"Primus let us have a break somewhere."


End file.
